The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-08-17
A THRILLING STORY.
An Exciting Iucident-Savsd by Special
Interposition of Providence.
FL Pago -Republfca

InterpoatttOn of Providence.
FL Psso Inter-Republics.
"a man gets some queer ideas in his
head when he's out all alone in the noun
tains," said John Sanderson, an old pros
pector who has his quarters at FL Paso,
but who makes several incursions into the
mining districts every year. "Half of
them believe in ghosts, nine out OF ten in
signs, and about all of them in luck. My
own experience has changed my views in
good many particulars, and, tor one thing,
it has made me firm believer in special
providences. 1t didn't come about gradu-
ally, but through as marvellous escape from
an awful death as. L believe, ever falls to
men.
ut happened up in the Mimbres noun
| tains four years ago this summer. The
| Mimfres lie in New Mexico, down below
old Fort Tule Rosa, and they must be full
of gold somewhere. because the beds OF the
creeks that find their way down the sides
are so rich in placer diggiDgs that you can't
| pull up sage brush around there without
seeing bright specks among the roots. l
had a pet theory then that if you followed
the creeks up high enough and looked
close enough you would find a tremendous
/ deposit of gold in decomposed quartz. I
thought, you see, that little Of it had
washed on the surface in the course of
time and formed those placers. What
l wanted to find was the mother mine
81 talked the thing up to Charley Burke,
another prospector and friend of mine, I'm
til he agreed to put up half the outfit and
| join me in the search. We got couple of
burros, the necessary tools, and started
| early in the spring. The country about
the Mimbres is about as wild and desolate
as any on earth, and it was trip that moth
ing but faith and enthusiasm would
prompt man to attempt. 1t was one sue
1 sNxa Of TIoha lac
| all strewn with granite powders from the
size of mans hand to four.story block,
and often we were obliged to leave the
water course we were following and make
| detours that took days at time.
The creek we followed was almost dry,
and we stopped frequently looking for
! plscers. We found no very rich ones, but
everywhere there was gold. Sometimes
there would be lots of it in the bottom of
the tin cup after we had taken drink, and
somtimes-here is a curious thing-it
would be floating on the surface. l will
let some one who is better posted in science
/ than tell why gold now and floats, but
only know that little fakes oft do, and
lots of il is lost in sluice-mining that way.
| AS long as we found placers, we knew that
the main deposit Was ahead, so we pushed
along, tired enough, but confident. At
| last We came 10 spot where the sand was
1
we began to prospect the country all
around. To make long story short, we
| struck ledge one morning with outcrop-
| pings that crumbled under nv pick aud
showed quartz al! streaked with yellow
threads Charlie, yelled out. all afire at
once we have struck itp
"But before we sank shaft we found
something else that sent our hearts to our
| mouths. 1t was an old shaft, back a little
ways and in claim, properly staked out,
that covered that very ledge. There was a
notification according to law on one of the
posts, that Peter Sumner and Joseph
Klautzy had taken possession Of the Big
Six AND dore the legal assessment work
| 1 sat right down collapsed, but Charley
went over to the shaft and came back to
tell me that 1t didn't cover half tie amount
necessary, under the law, to hold the prop
erty for year. We measured it and, sure
enough, it was down about half the re-
quired distance, so we took possession OF
the property, changed its name to The
Treasury and went to work.
I'VE built ourselves rough shanty,
rugged up windlsss and began to sink.
| In few days we were into a formation
rich enough to make man's head swim
and getting better as we went down. We
were both so excited that we begrudged the
time to sleep and eat, and we.neither Of Us
med1iated for an instant giving the claim
up to anybody, assessment work or no as
sessment work. What had become of the
two men was mystery. They had left
no trace except the notification board and
shaft, and it gave me the creeps now and
then to think that they might be dead.
But we were not in frame of mind to let
sentiment interfere with business,
81 suppose we had been there for
couple OF weeks when provisions began to
run short. We didn't want to both leave
the claim at once, so 1T was finally arrang-
ed that Charley 60 down to the creek to
csmp about fifty miles away and bring q
supply. he took both burros AID started
of. calculated it would take him week
to make the trip, and time hung heavy on
my hands. / tried to work little on the
shaft. The formation was very hard, and
we had rigged up sort of cross.bar ladder.
1 would go down this, fill the bucket
climb to the surface and pull it up.
EAT about noon of the second day after
he left / was startled at what / thought
was man crossing a little gulch half a
mile away. only had view of it be-
tween two rocks, and whatever it was
passed so quickly that 1 was not sure.
However, / waited for couple of hours,
and then, seeing nothing further, conclud-
ed / was mistaken, and went down into
the shaft. 1 filled the bucket with very
heavy ore, climbed up, and had 1t about
half raised when man came walking up
the creek bed toward me. Then l knew
that was right before.
HE was an ugly looking customer, big
and braWny, with fiat, Scandinavian
face, and carried Winchester on his arm.
1 bsd little stick that slipped into the
Yindlass handle near the axe to keep 1t
from turning backward, and, leaving the
bucket just where it was, suspended half
way up, started toward the cabin to get
my arms. He covered me With his repeat
Ing rifle and ordered me to halt.
What are you doing on my claim2
he said.
81 reckon you can sse, replied, put
ting as good face on 1t as possibly
could.